Cattle, hogs, and other livestock are frequently processed and inspected or otherwise treated in individual chutes having a head gate that closes against the neck of the animal behind its head once the animal is fully in place. Sides of the chute then serve to confine the animal laterally, while the head gate prevents it from moving fore-and-aft. Equipment of this type is presently available from a number of different manufacturers and suppliers, certain of which provide their equipment with removable sidewall portions and the like to facilitate access to different body portions of the animal once it is fully confined.
While confinement chutes of this type are normally adequate for the performance of routine processing operations such as hoof inspection and injections of various kinds, the performance of surgical veterinary operations on livestock has typically required the use of operating tables upon which the animal can be laid out, and suitable hoisting equipment or the like for placing the animal on such a table once it has been sedated. Operations have also been carried out by leaning the sedated animal against a tilted table or other surface, or by allowing the animal to lie on the floor while the procedures are being performed.
Although previous efforts have been made by others to provide a chute into which the animal could climb and which could then be rotated through power mechanism in order to lay the animal on its side for surgical purposes or otherwise, such prior device is unduly complicated and complex, and does not provide the access freedom which the veterinarian requires in order to perform surgical operations on the animal in a manner which is most convenient for the veterinarian.